


Activation Day

by stubsel



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Activation Day, Birthday, Established Relationship, Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, Trans Character, Trans Gavin Reed, rk900 is called chester, soft reed900, which isn't a major detail to the fic but it's there, you can take trans gavin from my cold dead hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 14:05:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16577936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stubsel/pseuds/stubsel
Summary: It's been an entire year since his activation and Chester isn't entirely happy about that. Gavin however thinks they should celebrate. Their cats agree.





	Activation Day

**Author's Note:**

> so, i rp rk900 and i hc the 10th november to be his activation day so here we are. please bury me in soft reed900. if gavin doesn't get a redemption arc in canon i will write it my damn self and no one can stop me, least of all david c*ge.
> 
> their relationship is heavily influenced and inspired by the ultimate mvp [aysu](https://ncnorocit.tumblr.com/)

Chester sighs, watching Gavin get ready in the morning. There’s a lingering hint of melancholy clinging to him this morning that he seems to be unable to completely shake off. Their cats come wandering into the kitchen, gently nuzzling against his legs, letting him know it’s time for breakfast.

It’s always time for food though, isn’t it.

A small smile tugs at his lips, though it doesn’t completely reach his eyes. The cats give him ease and calm, their presence is grounding in a way no human could manage. Not even Gavin, his soon to be husband.

He thinks back to their proposal, how he had it all planned out, wanted to make it perfect and romantic, Memorable in any way possible.

And then Gavin had just asked him around a mouth of popcorn while they were watching a shitty horror movie. Chester shakes his head at the memory, the smile on his face growing into something more genuine. He just can’t stay in a bad mood with the image of his fiance in mind.

Nevermind that the very same human is currently entering the kitchen, sweatpants dangerously low around his hips and a towel thrown over his head to not leave a trail of dripping water.

However, the happiness of seeing his fiance doesn’t last long when he notices the frown on the other’s face. His heart drops somewhere deep in his stomach or maybe even lower.

 

Gavin tends to have bad days, where he exits the shower and prods at his chest, the scars barely visible after all these years. Chester has never met someone who’s as unapologetically himself as Gavin, so those days throw him off too, to see the love of his life suffer like this.

So, when Gavin exits the bathroom, frowning, he immediately assumes the worst.

His worries however, are discarded soon after they surface when Gavin picks up his phone to check something. When he puts it down on the kitchen counter again, the frown has disappears with a sigh and he is back to his usual morning grumpiness.

Not that Chester much appreciates the grump that is Gavin before his coffee, but it’s better than the frown. The frown only causes worry.

 

When they arrive at the precinct it’s quiet. Gavin is heading towards the breakroom to get his second cup of coffee for the day while Chester walks towards his desk to start working on previous cases. Maybe today he’ll have a better understanding of their current clues. Maybe he’ll find something they overlooked.

But, the sense of melancholy, of dread, still clings to him weighing him down like a damp blanket. A shiver runs down his spine, he didn’t know that could happen to him.

Gently, he shakes his head to clear his thoughts, though the effect is far from what he wishes. A sigh escapes his barely parted lips. An unnecessary gesture he’s picked up through the months.

Upon his return, Gavin regards him with a gentle hand carding through his hair, a reassuring gesture. Those gentle touches were for Chester and Chester alone. Almost no one even knew Gavin was capable of anything but his usually loud and angry persona, but Chester knew better.

They’ve both changed a lot in the past months of knowing eachother. For the better, definitely. While Chester learned to fit in with others, especially humans, Gavin has learned to accept help, to not react with hostility every time someone offers him kindness. They’ve come a long way.

Of course there’s always room for improvement. Gavin still has days where he won’t even let Chester touch him and Chester has moments where he falls back into old habits. Habits he’s tried to leave behind, habits that are dangerous to himself and those around him.

Before he can lose himself in the darkness of his thoughts, he hears Gavin pull his chair back and sit down at the desk across his. With another sigh Chester focuses his attention back to the screen in front of him, resigning to an uneventful day of paperwork.

 

The next morning he awakes from stasis and the feeling of dread, lingering in the pit of his stomach, has only multiplied. A quick glance toward the calendar finally tells him why. While activation days were a reason to celebrate, much like birthdays, for most androids, Chester would rather not think about the day he came into existence. The day of his activation is anything but a reason to celebrate.

Brought into this existence to finish what Connor had started but couldn’t complete, Chester had spent the first weeks of his life hunting androids, deviants, and deactivated them with force. It is no surprise that most androids don’t trust him, considering the amount of blue blood on his hands. 

Something he can never possibly get rid of.

Chester groans before he sits up, looking to the side to see the other half of the bed empty. Weird, Gavin never gets up before him.

A sense of anxiety fills him, drawing up scenarios, one worse than the other, of what could have Gavin out of bed this early in the morning. It’s a Saturday after all.

He barely makes it through the bedroom door before he stops in his tracks, staring at the scene before him. He gapes slightly, eyes open wide and filled with wonder as he takes in the various decorations littering the walls, floors and other surfaces. Gavin stands in the middle of it all, still in his sleep shirt, boxer shorts and fuzzy socks as he returns Chester’s stare, his cheeks slightly flushed.

“Dammit, toaster, you weren’t supposed to get up yet.” He was right, in a way. Technically he still had about thirty minutes of stasis left to complete all system checks, but somehow Chester found himself unable to stay asleep any longer. Still, thirty minutes was in no way enough to complete whatever Gavin was trying to do here.

Chester steps closer toward the other, confusion still imminent on his face, maybe even a frown. Gavin in return, blushes slightly darker and tries to hide the garland in his hands behind his back.

“What is all this?” Chester finally manages to ask, still taking in the picture around him. Some of their cats are already starting to take the decorations apart, thinking them to be great prey. Fleck is munching on a straw she must have found lying on the floor while Bitch Boss and French Fry are fighting over a pile of garlands. Those garlands will never be able to be used again. Titty however is snoring away on a pile of napkins. Overall it’s a rather chaotic scene.

Gavin sighs and gives up hiding the garland, casually throwing it over to the two fighting cats before he closes the distance between him and Chester, slinging his arms around the other’s hips, pulling him close.

“Well, a little birdie told me that it’s been an entire year since a certain someone has been around and I want to celebrate.” Of course Gavin means well, but Chester can’t help but stiffen at the words, images of pleading, scared androids flashing in front of his vision.

Gavin frowns immediately, looking up at his fiance with a worried expression.

“It was Connor, wasn’t it.” Chester tries to school his expression into something more relaxed as he sighs, followed by a short hollow laugh. Of course it was Connor. The other android loved partaking in human traditions, including birthdays. Their activation days are the closest they will ever have to a birthday.

“Yeah, it was Connor. The celebration was my idea though.”

Chester looks at the other, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

“I know you don’t want to think about it. If it wasn’t for all of that though, I would’ve never met you. I wouldn’t be marrying in two months, I wouldn’t have you here, with me. I want to celebrate your existence.”

Chester can’t remember a single moment in their shared lives that Gavin has ever been this heartfelt and genuine, this vulnerable. Not even when he’d proposed. Before he can answer though, Gavin pulls away and shoots him a sly grin. “Besides, you’ll love your birthday present. I know it.”

Chester wants to argue, wants to tell Gavin that he shouldn’t have gotten a present, that it’s not his birthday, that there’s no reason to celebrate, but Gavin raises his hands, effectively silencing him.

He retrieves a box, a rather large box, from behind the sofa. There are holes on the sides and a huge blue bow on top of the lid. Chester raises an eyebrow. With his curiosity sparked, he walks over toward the other, kneeling beside him and eyes the box, wondering what may be inside.

“Well, don’t you wanna open it?” Gavin sounds incredibly sure of himself, and it’s a wonderful sound for him. Chester could listen to him talk about nothing all day, but now there’s a more important task at hand. With swift hands he tugs away the ribbon holding down the lid, he doesn’t have to remove the lid however, because something from insides pushes it up and aside.

Bright blue eyes lock gaze with Chester, followed by a soft meow before the pitch black cat in question jumps outside the box and lovingly rubs herself against Chester’s chest.

“You got another cat?” For a moment Chester doubts the present is just for himself, seeing as Gavin keeps bringing home cats whenever he finds a hurt stray. Gavin only grins though and points toward his temple, where an LED would sit if he were an android. Chester’s hand is rubbing the feline behind her ears and upon further investigation, he can make out the calm blue glow of an LED sitting just in front of the right ear.

“You got an android cat.”

The words are whispered, Chester’s chest suddenly feeling tight for completely different reasons. He’s talked about android pets before, how he would love to adopt one, have another android in the house, someone to connect to on a different level.

The artificial skin on Chester’s hand recedes, as does a patch of fur where his hand connects with the cat. The feline meows again, turning to lick at Chester’s hand before she curls up in a tight ball in Chester’s lap. There are tears in his eyes he hasn’t noticed until Gavin leans closer and gently wipes the tears from his cheeks.

“Happy Birthday, tincan,”

“I love you, meatbag.”

Truly, a lot can change over the course of a year. Maybe his activation hasn’t been so horrible after all.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr!  
> [@schattenlurch](https://www.schattenlurch.tumblr.com)  
> [@stubsel](https://www.stubsel.tumblr.com)


End file.
